HP 88780 tape loading questions

[Chuck Guzis]

On 1/20/2006 at 3:41 PM John Foust wrote:

>I tried the Overland Data 5622 I bought; it seems to have big troubles.
>On power-up, "Alert" blinks and it won't load - none of the buttons work.

In my experience, the Overland drives are poorly made with rather fragile
plastic parts.  Take a look at the inside of the plastic front panel with
the buttons.  Each button has a tiny molded plastic pin that contacts the
PCB switch.  Often, these get broken off.  

Also, most Overland drives have a "door open" optical sensor and a door
lock solenoid.  If the sensor gets unplugged or otherwise messed up
(usually by a plastic interrupter fin molded into the door being broken
off), you won't get anywhere.

I like drives like the Fuji 24444--no nonsense about auto-threading and
built like a battleship.

Cheers,
Chuck